This chapter suggests ways in which we can utilize models to quantify agricultural economic activity in Egypt and, on the basis of the available documentation, including tax records, to build up a ...
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This chapter suggests ways in which we can utilize models to quantify agricultural economic activity in Egypt and, on the basis of the available documentation, including tax records, to build up a detailed picture of the distribution and productivity of villages landholdings in particular areas and the level of urbanization.Less

Response to Alan Bowman

Roger Bagnall

Published in print: 2009-06-25

This chapter suggests ways in which we can utilize models to quantify agricultural economic activity in Egypt and, on the basis of the available documentation, including tax records, to build up a detailed picture of the distribution and productivity of villages landholdings in particular areas and the level of urbanization.

One of the fiercest debates about the monetization of the Roman Empire concerns the difference between rural and urban sites. One view has been that the use of coined money was limited to the cities ...
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One of the fiercest debates about the monetization of the Roman Empire concerns the difference between rural and urban sites. One view has been that the use of coined money was limited to the cities of the Empire, given that excavations of villas in Italy have yielded only a very small number of coins. However, archaeologists working on Roman Britain have pointed out that a substantial number of hoards in Britain have been found in rural sites, while fewer have been found on military sites or in towns. This chapter considers whether the now very extensive numismatic evidence from the Balkans, Asia Minor, and Syria can help to clarify the level of coin use in the countryside. It reassesses the role of diverse economic forces — such as the army, trading activities, and the urbanization of the provinces — and raises some questions about their impact on the monetization of the North and Eastern frontier through an analysis of the numismatic material found in the course of excavations or surface surveys at urban centres, fortress-cities, and military installations in rural areas.Less

The Monetization of Rome's Frontier Provinces

Constantina Katsari

Published in print: 2008-02-14

One of the fiercest debates about the monetization of the Roman Empire concerns the difference between rural and urban sites. One view has been that the use of coined money was limited to the cities of the Empire, given that excavations of villas in Italy have yielded only a very small number of coins. However, archaeologists working on Roman Britain have pointed out that a substantial number of hoards in Britain have been found in rural sites, while fewer have been found on military sites or in towns. This chapter considers whether the now very extensive numismatic evidence from the Balkans, Asia Minor, and Syria can help to clarify the level of coin use in the countryside. It reassesses the role of diverse economic forces — such as the army, trading activities, and the urbanization of the provinces — and raises some questions about their impact on the monetization of the North and Eastern frontier through an analysis of the numismatic material found in the course of excavations or surface surveys at urban centres, fortress-cities, and military installations in rural areas.

This chapter examines Iranian names and Persian influence on the religious sanctuaries in Asia Minor. It explains that religious cults with Persian associations were extraordinarily tenacious and ...
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This chapter examines Iranian names and Persian influence on the religious sanctuaries in Asia Minor. It explains that religious cults with Persian associations were extraordinarily tenacious and long-lasting across the entire land mass of Asia Minor, but that Persian influence on religious activity in Asia Minor was not uniform in nature. The chapter suggests that many of the cults in Asia Minor were undoubtedly of a hybrid nature and contained Greek or native Anatolian as well as Iranian features.Less

Iranian Names and the Presence of Persians in the Religious Sanctuaries of Asia Minor

Stephen Mitchell

Published in print: 2007-11-29

This chapter examines Iranian names and Persian influence on the religious sanctuaries in Asia Minor. It explains that religious cults with Persian associations were extraordinarily tenacious and long-lasting across the entire land mass of Asia Minor, but that Persian influence on religious activity in Asia Minor was not uniform in nature. The chapter suggests that many of the cults in Asia Minor were undoubtedly of a hybrid nature and contained Greek or native Anatolian as well as Iranian features.

This chapter tests the degree to which the Fasti is immersed in and co-opted by the prevailing masculinist culture of its time, and compares interpretations of modern critics examining Ovid’s ...
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This chapter tests the degree to which the Fasti is immersed in and co-opted by the prevailing masculinist culture of its time, and compares interpretations of modern critics examining Ovid’s (re)presentations of women. It finds some colluding with the poet’s conservative phallocentric imperatives on ritual(ized) female activity. It contends that the ways by which Ovid engages in negating, inhibiting, silencing, or slaying women are reflected in modern interpretative practices, and notes the operation of an intertextuality between the criticized and the critic. It offers a reading of Ovid’s Regifugium and the rape of Lucretia as a suggested methodology for an interpretation sensitive to sexual(ized) nuances in the Fasti and a way of delimiting and abnegating the perpetuation of the Philomela/Tacita syndrome in contemporary literary-critical and histori(ographi)cal practices.Less

Seen, not Heard: Feminea Lingua in Ovid's Fasti and the Critical Gaze

Peter Mark Keegan

Published in print: 2002-10-31

This chapter tests the degree to which the Fasti is immersed in and co-opted by the prevailing masculinist culture of its time, and compares interpretations of modern critics examining Ovid’s (re)presentations of women. It finds some colluding with the poet’s conservative phallocentric imperatives on ritual(ized) female activity. It contends that the ways by which Ovid engages in negating, inhibiting, silencing, or slaying women are reflected in modern interpretative practices, and notes the operation of an intertextuality between the criticized and the critic. It offers a reading of Ovid’s Regifugium and the rape of Lucretia as a suggested methodology for an interpretation sensitive to sexual(ized) nuances in the Fasti and a way of delimiting and abnegating the perpetuation of the Philomela/Tacita syndrome in contemporary literary-critical and histori(ographi)cal practices.

This chapter discusses depictions of heroic activity in battle in Indo-European tradition. Topics covered include the war-band, strongholds, the hero as warrior, weapons, horses, battle narratives, ...
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This chapter discusses depictions of heroic activity in battle in Indo-European tradition. Topics covered include the war-band, strongholds, the hero as warrior, weapons, horses, battle narratives, speeches, similes, and the hero's funeral.Less

Arms and the Man

M. L. West

Published in print: 2007-05-01

This chapter discusses depictions of heroic activity in battle in Indo-European tradition. Topics covered include the war-band, strongholds, the hero as warrior, weapons, horses, battle narratives, speeches, similes, and the hero's funeral.

This chapter deals with Plutarch's On Feeling Good, which presents itself as a letter written by Plutarch, who characterizes himself as a philosopher, at the demand of a publicly active man. As this ...
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This chapter deals with Plutarch's On Feeling Good, which presents itself as a letter written by Plutarch, who characterizes himself as a philosopher, at the demand of a publicly active man. As this chapter shows, Plutarch and his addressee are both dramatic characters designed to guide the reader's responses. In contrast to what other philosophers suggest, Plutarch does not encourage Paccius to give up public activity if he is to achieve well-being, nor to devote himself to studying philosophical intricacies: the help he offers him in this practical ethical text will be enough. This advice was tailor-made for Plutarch's target readers, who often placed a high value on involvement in society, yet it also had the advantage of reserving the role of philosopher exclusively for Plutarch himself.Less

On Feeling Good

Lieve Van Hoof

Published in print: 2010-06-24

This chapter deals with Plutarch's On Feeling Good, which presents itself as a letter written by Plutarch, who characterizes himself as a philosopher, at the demand of a publicly active man. As this chapter shows, Plutarch and his addressee are both dramatic characters designed to guide the reader's responses. In contrast to what other philosophers suggest, Plutarch does not encourage Paccius to give up public activity if he is to achieve well-being, nor to devote himself to studying philosophical intricacies: the help he offers him in this practical ethical text will be enough. This advice was tailor-made for Plutarch's target readers, who often placed a high value on involvement in society, yet it also had the advantage of reserving the role of philosopher exclusively for Plutarch himself.

This chapter continues the comparison between Gregory and Eustratius’s texts, with a focus on Gregory’s defence of the ongoing activity of the souls of the saints post mortem. This theme stood at the ...
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This chapter continues the comparison between Gregory and Eustratius’s texts, with a focus on Gregory’s defence of the ongoing activity of the souls of the saints post mortem. This theme stood at the heart of Eustratius’s apology and its lengthy defence in Gregory’s work plays a significant role in confirming the substantial overlap between the two texts. Like Eustratius at Constantinople, Gregory found himself forced to defend the soul’s posthumous activity against a combination of rationalistic and empirical arguments to the contrary. The chapter argues that many other themes in Gregory’s fourth dialogue, such as his interest in ‘Purgatory’ and the role of the Eucharist in relieving the sufferings of those undergoing purgation, ramify from this defence of the soul’s ongoing activity after death. The chapter also argues that a suggestive link can be drawn between the arguments Gregory rebutted and those which Stephen Gobar, a mysterious contemporary rationalist apparently working at Constantinople, put forward.Less

The fourth dialogue of Pope Gregory the Great : The early Byzantine context of a Latin disquisition on the soul

Matthew Dal Santo

Published in print: 2012-07-05

This chapter continues the comparison between Gregory and Eustratius’s texts, with a focus on Gregory’s defence of the ongoing activity of the souls of the saints post mortem. This theme stood at the heart of Eustratius’s apology and its lengthy defence in Gregory’s work plays a significant role in confirming the substantial overlap between the two texts. Like Eustratius at Constantinople, Gregory found himself forced to defend the soul’s posthumous activity against a combination of rationalistic and empirical arguments to the contrary. The chapter argues that many other themes in Gregory’s fourth dialogue, such as his interest in ‘Purgatory’ and the role of the Eucharist in relieving the sufferings of those undergoing purgation, ramify from this defence of the soul’s ongoing activity after death. The chapter also argues that a suggestive link can be drawn between the arguments Gregory rebutted and those which Stephen Gobar, a mysterious contemporary rationalist apparently working at Constantinople, put forward.

This introductory chapter situates the work of Peter Derow and the chapters in this volume, which respond to his views on Roman imperialism, within broad currents of thought on the nature of Roman ...
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This introductory chapter situates the work of Peter Derow and the chapters in this volume, which respond to his views on Roman imperialism, within broad currents of thought on the nature of Roman military activity and foreign policy. Specific reference is made to a rather different approach, recently championed by Arthur Eckstein, to show the relevance of Derow's own work and the importance of the debate both for ancient history, and for contemporary political theory and, potentially, practice.Less

Introduction

Christopher SmithLiv Mariah Yarrow

Published in print: 2012-03-08

This introductory chapter situates the work of Peter Derow and the chapters in this volume, which respond to his views on Roman imperialism, within broad currents of thought on the nature of Roman military activity and foreign policy. Specific reference is made to a rather different approach, recently championed by Arthur Eckstein, to show the relevance of Derow's own work and the importance of the debate both for ancient history, and for contemporary political theory and, potentially, practice.

Not even at the level of practice, still less of the imagination, was religion in ancient Athens restricted within the confines of Attica. This international dimension of Athenian religion has four ...
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Not even at the level of practice, still less of the imagination, was religion in ancient Athens restricted within the confines of Attica. This international dimension of Athenian religion has four overlapping aspects. The first is the participation of Athens at the festivals held at the four great Panhellenic sanctuaries. The second international aspect was Athens' membership of Amphictyonies, which are a survival of a religious and political organisation that predates the city in the form in which it is known. At the Panhellenic games and at amphictyonic festivals, the Athenians participated along with other states. But there were also certain religious activities that they undertook at Delphi either alone or in association only with the Delphians. This is the third international dimension of Athenian religion. The final international dimension involves individuals who made offerings, attended festivals, and sought healing at foreign sanctuaries; they were initiated too in Mysteries.Less

International Religion

Robert Parker

Published in print: 2007-03-01

Not even at the level of practice, still less of the imagination, was religion in ancient Athens restricted within the confines of Attica. This international dimension of Athenian religion has four overlapping aspects. The first is the participation of Athens at the festivals held at the four great Panhellenic sanctuaries. The second international aspect was Athens' membership of Amphictyonies, which are a survival of a religious and political organisation that predates the city in the form in which it is known. At the Panhellenic games and at amphictyonic festivals, the Athenians participated along with other states. But there were also certain religious activities that they undertook at Delphi either alone or in association only with the Delphians. This is the third international dimension of Athenian religion. The final international dimension involves individuals who made offerings, attended festivals, and sought healing at foreign sanctuaries; they were initiated too in Mysteries.

This chapter establishes the conceptual framework that underlies the set of unorthodox observations made in the main body of the book, which deals with actual instantiations of aetiologcial myth in ...
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This chapter establishes the conceptual framework that underlies the set of unorthodox observations made in the main body of the book, which deals with actual instantiations of aetiologcial myth in choral ritual. It explains why the study of myth and ritual has turned into something like deadlock, where little progress is made in the conceptual debate. It also clarifies that historical and geographical rooting in actual performance can make a difference to the question. It notes that one underlying idea in the argument is that aetiological myth and ritual come to interact in a performative context due to an inherent similarity in their workings, specifically with respect to their relationship to ‘time’ and ‘place’. It discusses both myth and ritual in this perspective, and engages with the specific qualities of ‘performance’ as a third category of social activity.Less

Introduction

Barbara Kowalzig

Published in print: 2007-12-13

This chapter establishes the conceptual framework that underlies the set of unorthodox observations made in the main body of the book, which deals with actual instantiations of aetiologcial myth in choral ritual. It explains why the study of myth and ritual has turned into something like deadlock, where little progress is made in the conceptual debate. It also clarifies that historical and geographical rooting in actual performance can make a difference to the question. It notes that one underlying idea in the argument is that aetiological myth and ritual come to interact in a performative context due to an inherent similarity in their workings, specifically with respect to their relationship to ‘time’ and ‘place’. It discusses both myth and ritual in this perspective, and engages with the specific qualities of ‘performance’ as a third category of social activity.